Custom Pin Spanner Wrench for John Deere Cylinder

[Don52]

I built a custom pin spanner for my friend John, so that he could replace the piston seals on his John Deere backhoe. I made it from 1 inch stock, which I have kicking around. We tried to buy a standard one, but unfortunately the ancient John Deere tractor didn’t have a standard distance between holes and the diameter of the holes were also larger than standard. Fortunately the one size spanner that we built, will work on all of the cylinders on the backhoe.

1. John Deere backhoe


2. Close up of ram

3. Ready for welding

4. First Weld

5. Second weld

[Don52]

Here are the rest of the pictures:

6. Drilling hole for dwl pin

7. Reaming hole for dwl pin

8. Dwl pins pressed in

9. Handle attached

[Don52]

My friend John tried it out. Here is what he had to say:

Works great. Tried it on the cylinder in the picture and was able to spin the cap on the cylinder with just a little effort. Tool felt very strong like I would be able to really put a lot of force on it if needed.

14. Spanner in use

15. Close up of Spanner


The ram looks dented in the above picture. It is just drops of water on the ram. Here is a picture after John wiped it off:

16. Ram wiped off

[Forced_Firebird]

Nice spanner! Bet it work s a lot better than a punch and hammer that I tend to use when the seals go out on my 2 post lifts.

[Metjunkie]

In the spirit of this thread, I'll share the adjustable pin wrench I made for rebuilding the cylinders on my Bobcat skid loader. I'm a cheap SOB and wasn't interested in spending the money for the real deal. As a retired industrial maintenance tech, I've seen way too many cylinder caps beaten within an inch of their lives with hammers, punches, chisels, etc. Not as nice as yours Don, but it did the trick.

[Franz©]

Couple things - When you make a tool like this, especially if someone else will use it, NEVER use pipe threaded into a coupling for the handle. Some gorilla will snap the handle off because he didn't use the tool properly, and immediately after snapping it haul the tool to the beer bar to explain to everybody in town your work sucks. Make it slip fit with a pin hole holding the handle in and rivet the pin.

Secondly, U shapes like wrenches an, do and will open up under load, and knuckles will suffer. Same beer bar will be involved, and your rep suffers. 2 more holes and add a closer strap across the jaws.. In today's world, make a video of instructing the user how the wrench is to be used, you generally gotta tell him anyhow.

Item 3, weld up a proper attitude adjuster, pin at a 45° angle to the shaft punch or Parker .401 adapter and you can use an air gun to spin them suckers loose.

Remember the guy using that tool is gonna whip it like a borrowed mule, so make accordingly.

What you mean "ancient John Deere"- I got a buck says that's a Yanmar wearing Woods backhoe & loader, circa 1984.

[Don52]

Nice spanner! Bet it work s a lot better than a punch and hammer that I tend to use when the seals go out on my 2 post lifts.

Thanks.

In the spirit of this thread, I'll share the adjustable pin wrench I made for rebuilding the cylinders on my Bobcat skid loader. I'm a cheap SOB and wasn't interested in spending the money for the real deal. As a retired industrial maintenance tech, I've seen way too many cylinder caps beaten within an inch of their lives with hammers, punches, chisels, etc. Not as nice as yours Don, but it did the trick.

I have a bunch of pin spanners with varying degrees of robustness. Due to the age of the back hoe I was worried that the cap might be rusted in place so I built a fairly robust one.

NEVER use pipe threaded into a coupling for the handle. Some gorilla will snap the handle off because he didn't use the tool properly, and immediately after snapping it haul the tool to the beer bar to explain to everybody in town your work sucks. Make it slip fit with a pin hole holding the handle in and rivet the pin..

I agree. I have noticed that 3/4" pipe is fairly thin wall in the area where it is threaded. We used a piece of threaded pipe to guide a ground bar into the ground with a jack hammer setup shown below. The threaded rod broke four times. I should have welded the pipe to a sleeve.

Secondly, U shapes like wrenches an, do and will open up under load, and knuckles will suffer. Same beer bar will be involved, and your rep suffers. 2 more holes and add a closer strap across the jaws.. In today's world, make a video of instructing the user how the wrench is to be used, you generally gotta tell him anyhow.

I'll keep this in mind for a heavy duty pin spanner.

Item 3, weld up a proper attitude adjuster, pin at a 45° angle to the shaft punch or Parker .401 adapter and you can use an air gun to spin them suckers loose. Remember the guy using that tool is gonna whip it like a borrowed mule, so make accordingly.

I don't follow this one. Do you have a picture or sketch?

What you mean "ancient John Deere"- I got a buck says that's a Yanmar wearing Woods backhoe & loader, circa 1984.

You are correct. John said that it was from the 80's.

Thank you for taking time to post all of your comments it makes the thread more interesting and it gives me another perspective to consider. I learn something every day.

-Don

[Metjunkie]

Don, I certainly understand the rusted caps thing. I bought my Bobcat new, so the cylinders had never been apart since assembly. I had to put a little heat around the cylinder, then a couple taps with the dead blow and they easily unscrewed. Found some loctite on the threads from the factory. I'm also curious about the "proper attitude adjuster" Franz mentioned.

[Franz©]

Kids, well lets see what I can do

Tube is usually ½" pipe which accomodates a straight Parker .401 driving punch
__ _________________________
()___________________________\ \
\ \ <set angle of punch to tube based on your need, generally around 60°
\ \ This end fits the hole in the gland-.005±

Don't even think of hardening the punch and bet the weld is going to break even using 309ss.

Also be aware most cylinder glands are installed with Locktite or similar to keep cylinder shops and manufacturers in business. Snow plow cylinders are locked in with SOLDER. It melts at 600°
DON't hold small cylinders in a vise, Pin & clamp to a bench or fixture. Vises distort.

Shoot any sumbeach using a pipe wrench on a rod, use a rod wrench or sleep under the porch.

USE A RIVETING GUN or install a regulator on the gun so you can feather it for this job.

Don't bother saving the tool after use, let somebody swipe it cause then it'll break when he's using it.

Slotted gland nuts respond best to a reground cape chisel with a rounded edge. You gotta do many of them make an air gun adapter replacing the round pin with a rectangle that fits the slot.

I got no idea how Bob snuck in and screwed up that fine CAD drawing.

[Franz©]

BTW, 2 cylinder engine is pre 82, 3 cylinders is post 82.